1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of and system for remotely arming a container security device with a remote arming plug and, after arming, utilizing the remote arming plug as a physical seal (mechanical or electronic), which meets the ISO standard for high-security seals, ISO 17172.
2. History of Related Art
The vast majority of goods shipped throughout the world are shipped via what are referred to as intermodal freight container's. As used herein, the term “containers” includes any container (whether with wheels attached or not) that is not transparent to radio frequency signals, including, but not limited to, intermodal freight containers. The most common intermodal freight containers are known as International Standards Organization (ISO) dry intermodal containers, meaning they meet certain specific dimensional, mechanical and other standards issued by the ISO to facilitate global trade by encouraging development and use of compatible standardized containers, handling equipment, ocean-going vessels, railroad equipment and over-the-road equipment throughout the world for all modes of surface transportation of goods. There are currently more than 19 million such containers in active circulation around the world as well as many more specialized containers such as refrigerated containers that carry perishable commodities. The United States alone receives approximately 10 million loaded containers per year, or over 25,000 per day, representing nearly half of the total value of all goods received each year.
Since approximately 90% of all goods shipped internationally are moved in containers, container transport has become the backbone of the world economy.
The sheer volume of containers transported worldwide renders individual physical inspection impracticable, and only approximately 5% of containers entering the United States are actually physically inspected. Risk of introduction of a terrorist biological, radiological or explosive device via a freight container is high, and the consequences to the international economy of such an event could be catastrophic, given the importance of containers in world commerce.
Even if sufficient resources were devoted in an effort to conduct physical inspections of all containers, such an undertaking would result in serious economic consequences. The time delay alone could, for example, cause the shut down of factories and undesirable and expensive delays in shipments of goods to customers.
Current container designs fail to provide adequate mechanisms for establishing and monitoring the security of the containers or their contents. A typical container includes one or more door hasp mechanisms that allow for the insertion of a plastic or metal indicative “seal” or bolt barrier conventional “seal” to secure the doors of the container. The door hasp mechanisms that are conventionally used are very easy to defeat, for example, by drilling an attachment bolt of the hasp out of a door to which the hasp is attached. The conventional seals themselves currently in use are also quite simple to defeat by use of a common cutting tool and replacement with a rather easily duplicated seal. However, there are other more secure (according to US Customs and Border Protection) sealing locations that may potentially be used for applying the mechanical seal. Various different locations along the container doors known in the industry for attaching the mechanical seal include the “Pardo Hole,” “Enhanced Lock Device” by P&O Nedlloyd, and “SecureCam.”
A more advanced solution proposed in recent times is known as an “electronic seal” (“e-seal”). The e-seals are equivalent to traditional door seals and are applied to the containers via the same, albeit weak, door hasp mechanism as an accessory to the container, but include an electronic device such as a radio or radio reflective device that can transmit the e-seal's serial number and a signal if the e-seal is cut or broken after it is installed. However, an e-seal is not able to communicate with the interior or contents of the container and does not transmit information related to the interior or contents of the container to another device. The e-seals may also actually weaken security because they will not be physically inspected. For example, there is no way to verify that an e-seal is actually securing the container door. It could be attached anyplace on the container and read remotely.
A container security device, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/667,282, entitled “Method And System For Monitoring Containers To Maintain The Security Thereof,” filed Sep. 17, 2003, must be armed in order to be able to monitor the integrity of the container doors while the container is in transit. However, one of the challenges in implementing a global in-transit security system for freight containers is to adequately distribute the global reader infrastructure so as to be able to arm the container security device on demand anywhere in the world, i.e., to download to a given container security device an encrypted arming key that has been issued by an authorized arming server. There are hundreds of thousands of shippers of cargo containers in over 130 countries that would potentially need to use some type of reader device in order to perform such arming transactions.
This need for reader devices poses a problem when the shipper does not ship regularly and/or does not have an account with the carrier, as it becomes problematic to distribute readers. Furthermore, it is not unusual that some shippers have their location in remote places (e.g., in-land China, Africa or Latin America), where there is limited or no wired, wireless public network coverage nor Internet capability, or where such IT capabilities are too expensive. In such cases, which are not expected to be unusual or uncommon in terms of the number of locations but rather pre-dominant, it may be very difficult to distribute the readers and thus implement a global in-transit container security system.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a method of and system for remotely arming a container security device without use of a reader device while still maintaining a very high security and secure authentication process. It would also be advantageous to utilize a device for remotely arming the container security device to also be used as part of a mechanical seal to physically secure the containers doors after the arming process has been completed. Further, after receiving the container, cutting the mechanical seal, and opening the doors, it would be advantageous to verify that the device on the mechanical seal is the same device that was originally put on at the point of stuffing/sealing the container. Finally, it would be also be useful to use the same device to download a log of trip from the container security device, take it back to a personal computer, and automatically authenticate the entire trip as well as upload the data log.